Dobby thought that she might want to protect her pride by not responding, but at the same time, he wanted to protect her pride. Nonetheless, he wanted her to say anything. If she felt frustrated, he wanted her to vent her frustration as much as she could in his presence.
But she didn’t. She didn’t want to show a sorry figure before his eyes.
She said, “Let’s go. We have a newcomer here. As a former sous chef, you should welcome him anyway.”
“Are you digging at me?”
“It’s nothing compared to what you used to dig at me. Shut up and let’s go. Don’t spoil the mood.”
Eva tapped Dobby on the shoulder and left first. She walked off proudly, but he felt sorry for her.
‘Min-joon…’
Honestly, Dobby had to admit Min-joon fit the sous chef position here. So, he couldn’t raise an objection to June’s choice. Without personal feelings, he would have made the same choice as June if he were offered the chance to use Min-joon as a sous chef.
‘I wish Eva had improved her cooking skills early on.’
Dobby could not help but let out a sigh. He could have recommended June to promote Eva as a sous chef if she had been more competent, but it was hard to do so in this situation. Eventually, Dobby headed for the kitchen. Before he even entered the kitchen, June smiled, seeing him through the window of the open kitchen.
“Come on, our ex-sous chef!”
“Are you already treating me as an ex-sous chef?”
“Please make sure he takes over your duties well. Not only your job duties but also… You know what I mean, right?”
Dobby nodded at June’s instruction. Perhaps what she was worried about was that the demi chefs and cooks under Dobby might not duly respect and accept the new sous chef, Min-joon. If their lack of support for Min-joon causes tension and discord among the kitchen staff as a whole, it would be reflected in their dishes.
Dobby looked back at the chefs. In fact, all the chefs here had no doubt that Dobby’s successor would be Eva. Because of that, they didn’t seem to welcome Min-joon, but at the same time, they didn’t show any displeasure or hostility toward him.
Their action was understandable, given that they could not deny Min-joon’s cooking skills. They didn’t know it well, but they heard a lot that even though he didn’t have much experience as a chef, his cooking skills were extraordinary.
Wasn’t Min-joon the man who beat Dobby and won the recent Paris International Culinary Competition? Because of that, each of the chefs didn’t want to recognize him but had no choice but to do so. Recognizing him would make them feel sorry for Eva.
Dobby glanced at Eva. Perhaps she might feel very much uncomfortable about the situation where she was in. She would not feel less uncomfortable if she was alone here. But everybody here knew that it was because of her that they were feeling uncomfortable with him.
“Hi, our new sous chef, why don’t you introduce yourself briefly?”
It was Eva who opened her mouth first. Min-joon looked at Eva. It didn’t seem that Eva mentioned him to make fun of him. Rather, she was considerate to him in some respects.
Min-joon shrugged with an awkward expression, then said, “Well, I usually hate this kind of introduction of myself very much, right? But let me tell you about myself briefly. I’m from Rose Island’s main restaurant. I’ll be in charge of you in the future. Hope I’m in your good hands.”
There was a brief silence after he was done introducing himself like that. Then somebody clapped immediately. It was Eva who started applauding. Then other chefs checked her looks, then started clapping. Min-joon felt some awkward atmosphere, but he didn’t express it. He had never thought that there was something like hazing in any organization because it was like human nature to try to reign over others.
But Min-joon wasn’t scared because he was confident he could prove he deserved the sous chef position here. Even if they didn’t recognize it, he would not care because it would only show them lacking character. But what if they recognize his abilities, but won’t admit it?
‘Well, that’s not what I should care about.’
Min-joon doubted if there was anyone among the demi chefs and cooks here who wouldn’t acknowledge his abilities, but if there was, there was nothing he could do about that. The only thing he could do was to persuade them by proving his skills.
At that moment, Eva gently spoke to him, “How do you feel? Are you a bit nervous because you’ve come to this new place?”
“Well, I’m more thrilled than nervous. I feel like I’ve just moved in.”
“I guess so. It’s like you’ve moved in. Would you like to take a look around the kitchen?”
“Oh, can I?”
“Of course. The pantry is here on this side.”
The two began to talk with each other amicably.
Watching them, demi chef Osla mumbled as if she was dumbfounded.
“Eva doesn’t have any pride. Why does she bother to talk to him when she feels more frustrated and upset than anybody else.”
“Everyone knows she is good-hearted and generous, though she sometimes flies off the handle. It looked like she had decided to treat him well anyway,” said demi chef Downey.
Osla opened her mouth with mixed feelings.
“What should we do from now on?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean how we should treat him. Should we welcome him like Eva? Or…”
“We don’t need to welcome him because we are not happy to have him here. So, don’t pretend to like him when you don’t. Just be honest with him.”
“Oh, it drives me nuts! I just don’t understand why Chef June hasn’t promoted Eva to the sous chef position instead of hiring that guy…”
“I guess she has been coveting him very much. Commercially speaking, just hiring such a chef will boost the publicity of our restaurant. I’m not sure about his abilities. He won the Paris International Culinary Competition, but that doesn’t show his abilities as a sous chef. I’m not sure about how well he can direct us in the kitchen.”
Although Downey tried to speak in a low voice, his voice was loud enough to be heard by Eva and Min-joon said he was speaking in his own small voice, it was a voice that would not be too much to be heard by Cho Min-joon and Eva’s ears.
Eva checked his expression and whispered, “I’m sorry. They’re not bad guys, but it seems they were disappointed this time…”
“You don’t have to feel sorry, because I don’t feel that bad. Eva, you’re loved a lot here.”
“Thanks. If there’s anything I can help you with, just tell me.”
“That’s great. I’ve been wondering how to tell you about that.”
“What do you want to say?” Eva asked with a puzzled look.
Min-joon replied with a relaxed voice, “Please arrange a get-together meeting for all of us.”
<hr />
“Are you really okay even if only two of you work as chefs?” Delia asked.
“Yeah, two of us are enough. But I may need some people like cooks or those who can do some chores. I can think about it, watching the situation because that’s my concept at this point. You can’t make a restaurant overnight, as you know,” replied Kaya in a relaxed manner.
Delia had no choice but to think Kaya was indeed extraordinary. Compared with Kaya, Delia was born with everything. She looked pretty, and she was wealthy. As a matter of fact, her pretty looks and wealth clearly differentiate her from ordinary women like Kaya.
Nevertheless, Delia wasn’t as confident as Kaya. Although she was arrogant, it was quite different from her confidence. Kaya thought she could do whatever she wanted, but Delia lacked that kind of mindset, so she tended to cling to money, and believed it as an absolute value. She thought she would have no problem in her life if she could solve everything with money.
‘These days she seems to have changed her mindset a bit …’
Delia lowered her head with a gloomy expression for a moment. She then looked at Kaya.
Kaya’s concept of the restaurant was simple. Namely, Kaya and Chloe would be working as co-head chefs overseeing everything, while hiring cooks who would help them with trimming ingredients.
In fact, it was rather ambiguous to call them head chefs because a head chef cooking in person would be suitable for only a small restaurant. Actually, the restaurant that Kaya was thinking of was small in size, about half the size of the restaurant that Delia had in mind originally.
“If you make the restaurant like that, it won’t have the atmosphere of a high-end restaurant. What if you have lots of customers, but with no servers around in the restaurant?”
Such a restaurant would be like a fast-food restaurant. Delia wanted to point it out but barely held back the urge to speak out because she was afraid Kaya would hate her for that.
As if she read Delia’s mind, Kaya said with a smile, “Well, you will feel like it’s a fast-food store. You wanted to point it out to me a moment ago, right?”
“Yeah, but is that okay with you?”
“Don’t worry. We’re not ordinary chefs. Kaya Reuters and Chloe Chung are here. As long as we are in the kitchen, we can make even french fries a luxury dish.”
“I can’t believe where your confidence comes from…” said Delia, looking at them awkwardly.
Kaya muttered in a low voice, “The other guys are doing their jobs very well. Look at Anderson and Min-joon. Since my boyfriend is the sous chef of Rose Island New York branch, how can’t I be satisfied with a part-timer at a fast-food restaurant?”
“Do you mean you’re confident?”
“It’s not a matter of confidence. This is homework for me. I have to do it somehow. I don’t intend to turn my restaurant into a junk food house,” Kaya said firmly. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt your hotel’s reputation. I won’t allow that to happen.”
<hr />
‘How ignorant!’
Dobby looked at the kitchen with a sigh. A little while ago, Eva gathered the demi chefs and cooks out of nowhere and insisted that they should give Min-joon a chance to practice working as a sous chef.
In fact, this would be a good chance to get him into trouble because he just got here and had no knowledge of their existing recipes. So, Eva tried to reject his request at first for fear he might be in trouble.
But she couldn’t because of his repeated request. After all, when she gathered them in one place and suggested they check his qualifications as a sous chef, they thought it was a perfect chance to get him into trouble.
But it didn’t take long for them to change their attitude. At first, he was hesitant and clumsy in leading the kitchen staff, but in no time, he quickly managed to control them perfectly.
Even Dobby couldn’t help but be surprised. He recognized Min-joon as a chef, but not as a sous chef because managing the kitchen staff required a sous chef’s experience.
‘Well, it would have been hard for me if I had not relied on the system,’ Min-joon thought so.
Normally, he wouldn’t rely on the system so much, but it was different now. Right now, it was more important to clearly imprint his leadership in the minds of the chefs rather than showing his cooking skills.
Downey muttered, “Man, I can’t believe this…”
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